Strength Training Exercises for Young Athletes
Tony Reynolds is a cut above almost every Strength Coach I know.
And that’s why he’s 100% in charge of the content for the message board
on www.IYCAMembers.com
When our Members have questions about training young athletes, their
is no one in the world I trust more than Tony to answer them.
But not only does Tony answer questions, he also contributes to the message
board every day with fantastic thoughts, opinions and suggestions.
Tony detailed some of his favorite strength training exercises to use with young
athletes last week and I just had to make sure that you saw this goldmine of
information. Below is a description of one of these exercises:
Single Leg Low Pulley RDL
Equipment:
Low pulley lowered as far down as it will go (ankle height) with a “D” handle attached.
Starting Position:
Grasp the D-handle in your right hand and face the pulley. Move far enough away from the pulley so you can perform a full range of motion without the plates touching the stack.
Stand on your left foot with your head up, base leg knee slightly bent (10-15 degrees), spine neutral but tilted, and hips pushed slightly back.
The Motion:
Flex at the base leg hip. As your torso moves forward and down “push” your free leg back for counter-balance. The free leg hip should not flex during the exercise.
You may need to slightly flex the base leg knee an additional few degrees as your hips travel back. This will allow you to keep your weight on the back half of your foot and reach forward maximally with the d-handle while keeping a neutral but tilted spine.
Descend until your back is near parallel with the ground. Reverse the motion and return to the top.
Things to Avoid:
Letting your hips push out to the side.
Dropping the base leg knee valgus
Over flexing the base leg knee…its an RDL not a squat
Losing a neutral spinal alignment
Loading the front half of the base foot
Hyperextending the hips/spine at termination of the ascent
Let me know some of your favorite strength training exercises for young athletes below…
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I love this! Could you also do a one arm row as you come bac up to the starting position?
I do the single leg RDL’s with a light dumbbell. Is it better with the pulley. If so, why?
Steve, yes…you can. With a little imagination you can add all sorts of variations to this lift.
Dale, I am not going to say it is better. Only different. It is different because of the load vectors. DB is going to be vertical where the cables load is pulling horizontal. Different loading vector=different muscular response.
Personally, I like the horizontal loading version with the cable because it allows you to emulate lower body loading patterns seen during deceleration where momentum pulls the body in a horizontal plane.
Hope this helps.
T